2026-02-19

Honeycomb Patch Notes for 2026-02-19

From now on, Honeycomb will only work with BetterGH3 on PC. If you are using the original game, you will be directed to download BetterGH3. This does not affect how songs compile with GHA at this time.

When compiling or adding a song for GH3 PC for the first time with this new version, it will make a few changes to the BetterGH3 installation. The biggest things it adds are:

• Customs support for online. You no longer need to have the exact same customs installed to match with other players
• Original language support! With the exception of Korean, the game can now be played in the 4 other languages!
  • To change the language after the patch is installed, go to _Optional fixes\Dependencies\Registry and click the language of your choice.

If you do not want to add a custom to get the patch, you can also go into Song Manager, go to the Export tab, and load the setlist. This will also apply the patch.

Your save will be broken once more after applying the patch, but it should not break again after adding songs from that point on!

Here are the code changes:

Additions:

• Customs can no longer overwrite on-disc/included dlc songs (GH3 PC)
• Added ability to export songs as an SGH file in the Song Manager (GH3)
• Song Manager now contains a button to restore the original DLC
• Customs will no longer break saves and you can play online now if the customs you have do not match other people's customs
• [end] events will now properly work for GH3 PC
• Notes in lightshow/cameras tracks that don't exist in the game being compiled to will be ignored.

Changes:

• Hopefully no more confusion about which button to press when compiling
• Songlist Manager and SGH Importer are now the same screen, renamed "Song Manager"
• Sustains in GH3/A customs will be lengthened slightly if they're close enough to the next note. This is due to the game shortening sustains by default.

Fixes:

• Fixed game not updating GH3/GHA paths properly after setting it the first time
• Fixed Sysex taps not parsing correctly and being ignored
• Fixed PS2 hopos not working properly
• Fixed GHA customs crashing if there were no left-hand animations found in the custom

Translation credits for BetterGH3:
French: Miscellany
German: ChiMarky
Italian: Gabii
Spanish: Carl Mylo, Lynxeption, SlothDemon, & aloquendiar

2025-10-10

Honeycomb Patch Notes for 2025-10-10

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Additions

• Custom QB keys are now stored locally and will be able to be decompiled in the future.
• PAK files containing assets in VRAM files are now extracted automatically. Honeycomb will look for the _VRAM file in the same folder as the main PAK.
  • VRAM recompiling will be added in a future release.
• Added support for extracting compressed PAK files from GH3/GHA PS3.
• Added file order, parenting, flags, and asset context files to extracted folders when those configurations exist.
  • Do not delete these config files, as they are required for proper re-compilation.
• Songs missing lower difficulties will now use upper difficulties as placeholders to prevent crashes.

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Changes

• Decompiling QB files now includes QS strings as wide strings (from English keys) in the .q file.
• Compiling QB files now turns any wide string wrapped in qs( ) into a QS string when compiling for WT and newer.
  • When compiling a split PAK, a QS.pak file will be created to store all strings for that split PAK (for all languages).
  • Other files will have their QS data found inside the main PAK.

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Fixes

• PS3 hardware users can now install GH customs properly. Previous errors were caused by lowercase file names; PS3 expects uppercase.
• Fixed Q parsing bug that occurred when switch statements had no cases.
• Moving .ghproj files no longer causes projects to save in the old location when reloaded and compiled from a new one.
• Checksums are now limited to 30 characters to prevent crashes (includes a 1-character buffer for X+ versions compiled for WTDE).

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GUI Updates

• GH5 customs are now supported (Xbox 360/PS3 only).
  • Currently limited to one active DLC at a time due to no custom cache creation.
• Added .chart file support for customs.
  • Properly parses Guitar, Bass, and Drums, including open notes, double bass, ghost notes, accents, and taps.
  • Charts can be added via the “MIDI/Chart File” text box. Honeycomb converts them to MIDI automatically and saves a copy.
• Added a checkbox in Tools → Settings to enable GH3+ compiling for GH3 PC (adds taps and open notes).
• Added an “Album” field for forward compatibility.
• Added option to compile songs for console directly to a folder.
• Added option to compile for console using the checksum as the internal name (forces folder output for GH5/GHWoR).
• Added “MODS Subfolder” field to WTDE settings for organizing customs into subfolders.
• Added option to set a CareerSortIndex for GHWTDE.
• Improved error messages for certain crashes.
• Compilation failures after audio processing will no longer be marked as successful.
• For WTDE:
  • Instruments without charts are now hidden from the setlist.
  • If only one playable instrument exists, the song is also hidden from the full band setlist.
• Automatically compiles an Expert+ version for GHWTDE if a chart includes double kick notes (drums/band mode only).
• GH3 and GHA folder paths in settings are now editable.

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Next Steps

• Add support for creating custom caches directly within Honeycomb (requires STFS and PKG file support).
• Add functionality to recreate _VRAM files.

2025-01-31

Additions:

• Added option to recompile the qb.pak/pab file when recompiling the WAD file so you don't need to recompile two things

Fixes:

• Non-English users can properly extract scripts now (requires a re-extract with the new version)
• PAK and WAD extraction/compile won't lock the program anymore until job is complete

2025-01-22

Additions:

• A new logo! Thank you Mickelräven!
• Allow commenting in Q script. ; or // can be used for single line comments, /* and */ can be used for block commenting
  • This was actually a stealth update to last build, just officially documented now
• Errors with compiling PAK files should now come with a line number telling you where the error is
• Wii WoR debug keys added to QB Key database
• Added a "Preferred Console" setting. If you are going from a game with PC capability to one that doesn't, this setting will set the console you choose.
• Enabled 360/PS3 compiling for GHA in preparation for the patch that re-enables DLC scanning
• PS2 Customs creation is here! You can now build fully animated customs for PS2 for GH3. Tutorial is here: https://www.addymills.com/compiling-with-the-new-toolkit/#ps2-compilation
  • GHA PS2 customs to be available later
• You can now also input a decompiled GH chart file (that ends in .q) to perfectly recompile from other consoles
• Add more error logging so hopefully things make more sense when an exception is thrown

Fixes:

• Fixed bug in PS2 PAK creation causing crashes sometimes
• Fixed issue with certain PS2 PAK files not extracting properly (like oogame)
• Fix animations properly parsing after Debug Key update last week (regression)
• Fixed Preview End time not importing properly
• Fixed WT+ games having improper lipsync if lipsync SKA files were placed in the lipsync folder (they did work well if they were placed with the other animations)

2025-01-09

Introducing a rebrand!

New Features:

• Added new option to compile and extract PAK files (with automatic QB to Q conversion and vice versa)
• Added new option to compile and extract WAD files for PS2

Additions:

Song Compiler

• Add option to generate audio by itself
• When saving a ghproj file for the first time, the name defaults to the checksum

Changes:

Song Compiler

• All paths get converted to relative paths once ghproj file is saved. This allows moving the ghproj around your file system (assuming the files remain the same relative relationship once moved)
• Chords found under tap note markers (SysEx or notes) are now filtered out for games that don't support them
• Improved handling of custom scripts and performances importing

Fixes:

Song Compiler

• Fixed compiler checking for PC version when compiling to GH3 for 360 or PS3
• Fixed SGH Importer checking for Onyx when importing to PC version
• Fixed issue with songs not loading if title or artist has an accent in them on 360
• Fixed ghost notes not appearing in WoR (regression)
• Fixed notes that were 1/128th note apart from disappearing completely
• Fixed toolkit continuing compiling if ghproj file saving is cancelled
• Fixed SKA files not getting added to final song package in GH3

2024-08-06

2024-08-06 Release

Additions:

• Band Moments can now be charted to note 104 in the EVENTS track for games that support them
  • Band Moments also get generated automatically if none are present in the MIDI
  • Number of autogen Moments depend on song length, there's no limit on manually charted ones
• Added a "Lipsync Files" file path box. This can be used to import lipsync files from other games while also adding clips from GHWT and up
• Added the ability to override drum aims, crowd notes, and left-hand animations with MIDI tracks named DRUMS, CROWD, and ANIMS
  • This will allow you to chart the notes as they are found in the Neversoft charts
  • Useful for if you want to chart as NS did, or converting songs from other games
  • If these tracks are found, they will overwrite the RB drum anims, Crowd events, and LH anims parsed notes, respectively
• Add Onyx CLI Path to "Compile a Song" Settings Screen
• If a clip is present with a timefactor not equal to 1, a tempomatching = 0 variable gets added to the clip (WT only)

Changes:

• SKA Files now only accepts a folder with WT+ style SKA files. Lipsync can still be added to this folder if it's from these games or custom made in Blender.
  • GH3/GHA style lipsync SKA files go into the "Lipsync Files" folder now
• "SKA Source" now only affects files found in the "Lipsync Files" folder

Fixes:

• VenueFlags and CharFlags properly get brought over from Song Script override
• Fixed an issue with the program crashing when a period (.) was found in the SKA Files folder path
• Fixed the duration sometimes not getting properly added (usually with certain Clone Hero .ogg files)
• Fixed that GameCategory in WT ini file was improperly named SongIcon
• Fixed X+ notes causing drum charts to be unresponsive in WT

2024-07-21

Additions:

• Creating WoR packages has been implemented
• Note 26 on vocals, which are talkies in GHWT and up, can be charted to make talkies as an alternative to adding # or ^ to lyrics.
• More errors are added to the error list to allow better information about charts that need updating
• An internal warning list has been added. This will let you know if there's something not right, but doesn't stop the compilation. Some errors have been turned into warnings
• Perf override and song script files can now contain the old "garbage" data the Python toolkit included when decompiling qb files
  • The garbage data will be ignored and a warning thrown
  • This includes files starting with "qb_file =" or scripts that just contained a string of hex values

Changes:

• Song scripts and clips are now tokenized and re-created. This ensures the same format every time you compile
• Song clips and camera times are now normalized to start on frames exactly. This ensures there's no jumping around of the avatars if a clip ends near a frame.
• Song clips may be adjusted by up to 6 frames to ensure it starts and ends on a camera cut (this only happens if the start/end time is within 3 frames of a camera cut)

Fixes:

• Fixed cymbal and tom audio being swapped on GHWT+ customs

Compiling should overall be more stable. There are a lot of changes to how things work under the hood. There should be fewer errors as they are handled better (or ignored if they don't matter)

2024-06-23 Update

Additions:

• Added an option to chart open notes on Easy on the note below Easy Green (at a cost of removing one left-hand animation note)
• Added "And Justice For All" drumkit sample option (WTDE only)
• Add solo marker parsing for WTDE

Changes:

• GH3 customs should no longer have rogue HOPOs or strums due to a compiling logic change

Fixes:

• Using a custom preview audio file will no longer use the guitar stem instead of the preview file.
• Song Compiler will properly insert cover artist information when the cover checkbox is selected for WTDE
• Fixed drumkit sample and the preview checkbox not saving or loading from a ghproj file
• Speaking of drum samples, they should now be properly added to the song.ini file for WTDE customs
• SGH file import now skip entries with poor metadata (i.e. songs with spaces and/or certain symbols in the shortname), instead of crashing
• SGH importer will skip duplicates, if present, instead of crashing

2024-05-26 Bug fixes

No new features, but did quash two annoying bugs

• Fixed the compiler erroring out when multiple green notes were a part of the same open note SysEx event (Moonscraper style opens)
• Fixed STFS file compiling wrong when converting from SGH

2024-05-01 Customs Sharing & Song Management

New Release

Additions:

• Added the ability to import SGH files from Guitar Hero Three Control Panel for GH3
  • Add them to PC directly, or to 360 and PS3 as a pack
  • Songs can be filtered out before importing/converting
• Added ability to export GH3 songs to an SGH file for easy sharing and importing using the above feature
  • Toolkit-created SGH files are not compatible with GHTCP
• Added the ability to manage (delete) the PC downloaded songs list (GH3/GHA)

Fixes:

• Fixed an issue processing custom non-lipsync SKA files
• Fixed non-camera SKA files with custom keys failing to compile
• Fixed WTDE Settings tab not showing up in certain cases